NEW YORK—A 12-member federal jury was picked here Tuesday to sit in the trial of Ross Ulbricht, the 30-year-old Texan accused of running Silk Road, the Internet's first large-scale drug-dealing website.

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Ulbricht, whom the authorities claim is the "Dread Pirate Roberts" behind the site, was wearing a dark coat and motioned to family members when he entered the federal courtroom in Manhattan. The gallery in the courtroom of US District Judge Katherine Forrest was filled with about 30 onlookers and a dozen members of the press. Outside the courthouse, protesters were seen carrying placards reading "Web Hosting is not a crime! WTF?"

Opening statements are to begin later today. Ars is providing gavel-to-gavel coverage.

Silk Road was founded in 2011 and was shut down by the feds in 2013, the same day they arrested Ulbricht in a San Francisco public library. He has remained in custody ever since and has pleaded not guilty.

Ulbricht stands accused under the "drug kingpin" statute. The feds say he made around $80 million in fees, as around $1.2 billion in drugs were exchanged on the Bitcoin-only website. Prosecutors also say he tried to order six murders-for-hire from users on the site, but they didn't charge him with attempted murder.

The trial is expected to last a month or more. If convicted, Ulbricht faces decades in jail.

Jurors include a high school guidance counselor, a social worker, and a Social Security Administration employee.